8 tourist traps that are still worth visiting

By Mike Sowden, for CNN

Updated 1521 GMT (2221 HKT) May 1, 2014

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Taj Mahal (India) – A top attraction that lives up to its hype. You can avoid the crowds by going at sunrise or sunset. An alternative? Embrace the scrum, interact with the touts and talk to other tourists.

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Acropolis/Lykavitos Hill (Greece) – The climb up is hot and crowded -- but at the top, you'll see why a million people do this every year. This is Athenian culture refined and placed on a pedestal 150 meters high.

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London Underground – The most literal "tourist trap" on this list, London's tube system often turns commuters into prisoners, if only for a few minutes. But the complexity of the underground means shortcuts and alternate routes are available, if you do a little research.

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Khao San Road (Bangkok) – Travelers hit Khao San Road precisely because it's thrillingly chaotic -- the noise and crowds are the price of that excitement.

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Sacre Coeur (Paris) – Most visitors take the same route to and from the basilica, one lined with souvenir shops and tourist scams. But you can also find quintessential Parisian cafes, tree-lined streets and hidden alleyways nearby.

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Stonehenge (UK) – Teeming crowds. And most visitors don't get this close. But go anyway -- it's the crowning monument in a staggering archaeology-rich landscape and one of the most famous prehistoric monuments in the world.

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Christ the Redeemer (Rio de Janeiro) – This 98-foot-tall statue is Rio's most famous landmark, and therefore usually heaving with crowds. You can avoid the crush by going on a weekday, or when the sky isn't totally clear.

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Grand Canyon (Arizona) – A whistle-stop trip to the edge, or even to the Skywalk, is fine but doesn't do this amazing site justice. If you can get down inside this 17-million-year-old landmark you really get a sense of its depth.

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Story highlights

Rio's most famous landmark, Christ the Redeemer, is usually heaving with visitors. So what?

It's worth booking a couple days at the Grand Canyon rather than peering over the edge and leaving

Choosing a weekday over weekend or early morning over midday can spare you crowds at big attractions

Because however one bad experience may make us feel about them, they're awesome.

That's why they get overcrowded in the first place.

That's why, as Yogi Berra supposedly once said of popular St. Louis restaurant Ruggeri's: "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."

Professional globetrotter Gary Arndt perhaps sums it up best when he says, "I had a horrible time at the Pyramids, but I'd go back and recommend people go because ... they're the Pyramids. Some places you just have to suck it up and go visit."

Here are eight over-popular places that are well worth a visit anyway -- and a few tips for avoiding the scrum, if you really have to.

Share your picks for most-worth-it tourist traps in the comments.

1. Taj Mahal (Agra, India)

It's one of India's most popular sights, attracting 3 million visitors a year -- which automatically puts it on many tourist's verboten list.

More fool them: they're missing a World Heritage Site that really lives up to the hype.

At sunrise or sunset the crowds are slimmest and the building is at its most photogenic.

Travel writer Jodi Ettenberg picked the dawn hours of a rainy day for her visit, when most tourists would stay in bed.

National Geographic Traveler of the Year Shannon O'Donnell took a different approach.

"I went on a sunny day and still had a wonderful visit," says O'Donnell. "The site is just as popular with Indian tourists, so it was fun to interact with the families."

Ruggedly modern Athens may be a culture shock to those expecting white marble and togas at every turn, but for many the most jarring experience awaits at the ticket barriers to the Acropolis, complete with security guards and a sea of visitors.

The climb up is hot and crowded -- but at the top, you'll see why a million people do this every year.

This is Athenian culture refined and placed on a pedestal 150 meters high -- in every sense, it's the heart of Athens and maybe even of Greece.

The country's monuments have endured thousands of years of warfare, stone theft, punishing heat and, in one dramatic incident, an exploding ammo dump -- but they're still here.

People visit Khao San because it's thrillingly chaotic -- the noise and the crowds are the price of that excitement.

They're usually a bargain.

Alternately...

Too much chaos for you? Look to the surrounding streets.

While food on Khao San itself has a reputation for being underwhelming and overpriced, writer Mark Piano found a wealth of Lebanese and Israeli food nearby, including the well-reviewed Shoshana, the "cheapest and best hummus I've found in town."

Acting as Paris's own Acropolis is the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris, better known as Sacre Coeur, high above the city on the hill of Montmartre.

Consecrated less than a century ago, it's the city's must-see symbol of unity and renewed confidence -- and yet the approach to it is plagued with Paris's worst tourist scams, including the Paris String Trick.

Disheartening?

Of course.

Avoidable?

Absolutely.

"Most visitors take the same route," says travel blogger James Feess. "They get off at the Anvers metro stop, walk through the gauntlet of tacky souvenir shops on Rue de Steinkerque, take the funicular up to Sacre Coeur, walk to the Place du Tertre to see the artists selling their original paintings and finally walk back down the hill to see the underwhelming Moulin Rouge.

"Venture outside these few areas and you'll find a whole different world of quintessential Parisian cafes, tree-lined streets, private gardens, hidden alleyways and boulangeries that most tourists never see. "

It's the most famous sight in Brazil, it's stunningly beautiful and it has a remarkable history.

Of course you need to go.

Even if the area around the 98-foot-tall statue is almost always heaving with visitors.

"Most of the photos you'll have seen are likely to have been taken by photographers in helicopters who can find the space they need for the shot without the crowds," says travel photographer Laurence Norah.

"If you want to avoid the crush, go on a weekday rather than the weekend and perhaps pick a day that isn't totally clear.

"The morning is better for photos of the statue, as the light is on him, whilst the afternoon and evening offers better light across Rio."

If North America's Natural Wonder Of The World is your destination this year, don't waste your visit on a whistle-stop trip to the edge.

That's how most people experience it, and it's a poor way to do this 17-million-year-old landmark justice.

To avoid the beaten track do as the wisest local guides suggest -- book a few days and venture below the rim -- best to go out of season, as the canyon floor can be unbearably hot (39C/102F) during summer.